about game licence - law question

[leo1911]

Greetings all,

I am curious about one thing. I see many online casinos who are saying that "their mother company" has got a gaming licence.

Is it legal to buy one licence from one jurisdiction, and to use it then for many other casinos ? What if these other casinos are located in another country ?

I am an online poker player, but also a student interested in this legal aspect. So I'd appreciate if I could receive official information about this question, or a clear answer because the answer is hard to find on Internet for me.

Thank you very much,

Leo.

[vinylweatherman]

Originally Posted by leo1911

Greetings all,

I am curious about one thing. I see many online casinos who are saying that "their mother company" has got a gaming licence.

Is it legal to buy one licence from one jurisdiction, and to use it then for many other casinos ? What if these other casinos are located in another country ?

I am an online poker player, but also a student interested in this legal aspect. So I'd appreciate if I could receive official information about this question, or a clear answer because the answer is hard to find on Internet for me.

Thank you very much,

Leo.

This is probably more complicated than you think. Several countries offer "gaming licences", but their quality differs quite a bit. Some countries make no real effort to regulate the casino, they just want the money. The casino pays a fee, and can then claim to be "regulated". This gives players false confidence. Costa Rica is a case in point, casinos may well be "licenced in Costa Rica", but this is no better than having no licence at all.
Rogue casinos will simply lie, they will claim to be licenced, but will not be. The internet is hard for any one country to police, so the dodgy casinos will get themselves licenced in a juristiction that won't bother them with annoying regulations. Good casinos on the other hand, will submit to proper regulation, and will choose a juristiction that is tax efficient, but respected in the industry. The UK has introduced strict regulation, but there are few applicants due to the tax inefficiency of 15% tax on profits. The UK have also produced a whitelist of acceptable juristictions whose casinos are free to advertise to UK players. These will be the juristictions with proper regulation, not just those than hand out licences to those who can pay enough.

Watch out for casinos that state something like "Legally licenced and insured". This translates as "likely to not have a proper gaming licence at all". By not stating WHERE they are licenced, it is near impossible for a player to check, or indeed complain. Such casinos generally have their servers in places like Costa Rica, where they are less likely to be bothered by the authorities for operating without a licence.

I believe each casino has to be registered for juristictions such as Kawanake who provide a list on their website as to who really holds one of their gaming licences. Other juristictions may well just allow one licence to be used for all casino and poker products. You will probably have to study the gambling laws of each country that offers such licences.

You could also try sending a PM to the reps for specific casinos, who may tell you more about their specific regulatory frameworks. eCogra also offer a form of voluntary regulation that sits alongside the regulation provided by gaming licences. eCogra will grant a seal to applicants who can demonstrate a certain standard. There are mixed views as to the quality & fairness of their standards from the player community.

[Casinomeister]

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

...Costa Rica is a case in point, casinos may well be "licenced in Costa Rica", but this is no better than having no licence at all..

Please let me chime in here. The "license" from Costa Rica is merely a business licence to do business on the Internet. If you sell Sponge Bob DVDs on the Internet from Costa Rica, it's the same license.

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

...The UK have also produced a whitelist of acceptable juristictions whose casinos are free to advertise to UK players. These will be the juristictions with proper regulation, not just those than hand out licences to those who can pay enough...

The Accredited Section indicates which Casinomeister casinos are located in whitelisted jurisdictions (little Union Jack flag).
http://www.casinomeister.com/casinos.php#legend

Originally Posted by vinylweatherman

... Watch out for casinos that state something like "Legally licenced and insured". This translates as "likely to not have a proper gaming licence at all". By not stating WHERE they are licenced, it is near impossible for a player to check, or indeed complain. Such casinos generally have their servers in places like Costa Rica, where they are less likely to be bothered by the authorities for operating without a licence....

Sometimes you need to download the software and do an IP check on where their gaming servers are. Their website and offices may be registered in the UK, but their gaming servers might be in Panama City.

[leo1911]

Thank you for these information.

Still, can a big company have a licence from Kahnawake (or any other *good* juridiction concerning licences) and then let its sub-companies use the same one ? Is a licence appliable to one company or can it be kind of "shared" with other companies depending on this big one ?